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Cash withdrawals fall in China as mobile payments grow

Xinhua, April 26, 2017 Adjust font size:

Cash withdrawals using bank cards fell in volume for the first time in China, as the country enters a cashless society with mobile payments growing in popularity.

About 65.5 trillion yuan (9.51 trillion U.S. dollars) was withdrawn using bank cards last year, down 10.46 percent year on year, a report from the Payment & Clearing Association of China (PCAC) showed Wednesday.

The growth rate of payment via bank cards has fallen for three consecutive years, due to sluggish growth of large-volume transactions and increasing use of mobile payments, such as paying by screening a barcode, according to Wang Suzhen, deputy secretary with the PCAC.

Meanwhile, online payment grew fast, with non-banking payment platforms seeing their business volume more than double in 2016.

Chinese also tend to use mobile terminals more than computers to pay online, the report showed.

Chinese mobile payment giants have been encouraging a cashless society. Earlier this month, Alibaba's financial affiliate Ant Financial said it planned to spend 6 billion yuan in the next two years to push forward the drive. Endi